1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fish scalers, and more particularly to a hand held fish scaler that is connected to a water source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fishing is a pastime widely enjoyed by many individuals; however, cleaning fish is often an unpleasant task. Removal of scales in particular is a time consuming and messy operation that requires the surface of a fish to be scraped with a scraping element many times in order to remove all of the scales and grime on the fish. As the scales and grime are removed, they tend to collect on the scraping element thereby obstructing it and rendering the scraping element ineffectual. This requires a user to rinse the scraping element with water to remove the scales and grime. Often a scraping element must be rinsed several times during the cleaning of a single fish, greatly adding to the time and effort required for fish cleaning. In addition, upon completion of scale removal the area must be cleaned up and the scales disposed of.
Various fish scraping devices are known that incorporate a continuous flow of water directed at or on the scraping element such that it is continuously rinsed. These devices have a tube connected to a pressurized water source and one or more tube outlets that permit water to flow over the scraping element. Examples of such devices are disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,086 to Sexton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,452 to Adcock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,765 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,850 to Altman et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,079 to Chartrand. These devices, however, do not satisfactorily solve the above problems. Many of these devices have water outlets that are close to the scraping element and thus as scales are removed the water outlets can become increasing clogged with fish scales and grime such that little or no water can flow over the scraping element.